


Hasty

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Het, Romance, spookyflashweek2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 11:37:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5089247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Joe gets a visit from the Superintendent and Caitlin gets a promotion</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hasty

**Author's Note:**

> For SpookyFlashWeek2015, day 3, high school au

The office door slams shut and Joe leans back in his chair, closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose hard. He takes a deep breath that he hopes will calm his frazzled nerves and when that doesn't work, he takes another.  It doesn't work any better than the first and there's a tentative knock at his door before he can see if third time really is the charm. He drops his hand from his nose, frowns at the door and hopes it's not Singh returning for round two. Of course, if it was, there would have been no knock. That realisation has him calling out, "Come in," and he instantly relaxes when the door opens and Caitlin's head appears in the gap, all wide eyes and nervous blinks. 

"Principal West?" she says carefully, nervously and he deduces from that that there's an audience outside. "May I..."

"Come in, Miss Snow." He lets some asperity bleed into his voice but that only lasts as long as it takes her to step inside and close the door firmly behind her. "How much of that did you hear?"

He's leaning back in his seat, watching her approach his desk. She stops at the side of it, ignoring the visitor's chair completely and electing to stand.  Her arms are crossed over her chest and her long hair swings around her shoulders as she glances back at the door. "Quite a bit," she says, biting her lip when she looks back to him. "Superintendent Singh sounded quite... irate..."

"Irate?" Joe chuckles at the obvious understatement. "You should be part of my English faculty."

Caitlin blinks, cheeks blanching. "Is this your way of telling me I should be looking for a job? Because if Singh wants a new broom sweeping clean, I get that, I mean..."

Joe holds up his hand, stopping her babbling before it can take full flight, cursing himself for not having chosen his words more carefully. He should have known that she and Cisco would be more nervous than most about Singh's visit to the school today; after all, when the head of a three person department turns out to be a homicidal maniac, his two subordinates automatically have questions to answer. Well, in Singh's mind they do, but Joe has worked with Caitlin and Cisco, he knows better. "We're not firing you, Caitlin," he tells her and she visibly sags with relief, hand reaching out to steady herself on the desk. "The Board of Governors met this morning; they decided, and I agreed, that after everything..." He stumbles on the word despite himself, lips pursing in disgust at the memory. "For the sake of the kids, for their education, we need continuity. Not a whole load of new people coming in here and shaking things up even more."

Her smile is bright, brilliant. "Thank you," she says. "That means a lot to us both."

"It might mean more in a minute." Her eyes narrow in a frown and he sits up, rests his arms on his desk and leans towards her. "We need a new head of department."

It takes a moment for his meaning to register and when it does, her jaw drops. Myriad emotions flood her face and he catalogues every one, the initial joy and disbelief, followed rapidly by curious caution. "You're not worried?"

He tilts his head. "You're an exceptional teacher-" he begins and it's her turn to cut him off with a shake of her head, with a step towards him, her hip coming to rest at his desk, her hand landing on the leather blotter just beside his. 

"I know." It's not a boast, just a fact and they share a smile.  "You're not worried people will think I got this promotion because I'm sleeping with my boss?"

He's actually not, because this decision came from the board, not from him; he made sure of that, and for the very reason Caitlin is thinking about. Not that a lot of people know about them: there's Cisco, there's Iris and he's pretty sure his secretary knows he's seeing someone, being as there was that time a couple of weeks ago when he came back from "lunch" and she took one look at him and started humming, "Lipstick on your Collar." He'd gone into his office, closed the door and pulled at his shirt and sure enough, there was a smudge of lipstick in the exact shade Caitlin always wore.  

"I'm not worried," he tells her, one hand reaching out, closing over her knee, tracing the smooth skin there. She smiles again, eyes fluttering shut as his hand moves a little higher. Not too high, after all they are at work and he's not into pushing his luck, but high enough to make her bite her lip as she looks down at him. "But we can stop if you want."

"Well," she breathes, shifting her stance just enough to grant him better access, "let's not be hasty..."

Turns out like here, like this? Hasty is all they can be, but she doesn't seem to have any complaints. 

He certainly doesn't. 


End file.
